Enriching Education: Financial Literacy for Students and Resources for Teachers

Student debt is among the most serious financial problems facing this nation with more than $1.5 trillion currently outstanding and secondary effects being less business and household formation,  and minimal retirement savings.

The Institute for  College Access and Success’ 2018 Project on Student Debt found that two out of three college graduates had an average debt of more than $29,000.

Students in Minnesota, however, have the 9^th highest average student debt with $31,734 per students. The top 10 highest debt states also include Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Delaware, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Alabama, and Maine, according to the report, released yesterday (9/18/19).

Tim Ranzetta, co-founder of Next Gen Personal Finance, believes the best way for college students to avoid loan debt they can’t afford is first to understand the fundamentals of personal finance, which includes knowing the difference between sticker and net prices of colleges and analyzing how much debt a student can afford, based on the earning potential of one’s major.

“If only students had a personal finance course in high school, they would be better prepared for the world of college loans and other financial challenges,” says Ranzetta. “Unfortunately, our study shows that just 1 in 6 high school students take a semester-long course. We are trying to change that.”

Ranzetta points out that his organization’s report shows that in Minnesota, just slightly more than 5 percent of students attend high schools that adequately prepare students by  requiring a personal finance course in order to graduate.

His organization provides free online curriculum and teacher professional development and has reached more than 21,000 teachers in every state. One of the tools teachers often use, and students love, is Next Gen’s arcade of games designed to improve players’ financial capabilities. One game, Payback, focuses on managing college student loan debt and has been played by more than 1 million students since it was launched in November 2017.